I’ve let my hair go gray, and I’ll never go back. In fact, I wish I would’ve set out on this journey a long time ago.

My husband first planted the gray hair seed in my head. It was early on in the pandemic, when we couldn’t go to salons, and I had dark hair that I’d been coloring since my mid-30s (now, I’m 48). I didn’t take his suggestion to go gray right away, but I did start looking at women who were rocking full heads of silver sparkles on Instagram, and their beauty began to normalize gray hair for me.

My own turning point came when I started to question why I wanted to dye my hair—and realized I didn’t really want to.

In June 2021, I ditched the dye.

For the first month and a half, I let the transformation happen naturally. Honestly, I didn’t love the drastic demarcation line between the silver strands growing in and my old brunette shade. I wore my hair up more often to try and cover up the new growth, and I found myself worrying that I’d miss my brown hair.

So, I decided to do some gray blending: I had my hair dyed a lighter shade to make the grow-out less obvious, and I cut it much shorter, too. At that point, I felt fantastic and confident. And that feeling has stuck with me ever since (despite having to deal with some brassiness from lightening my locks!).

Social media has played a big part in this process.

Documentation is something that the Silver Sisters Instagram community really encourages, and for me, it’s been a largely positive and safe space for me to record and share my journey. In fact, the fun really started (and the whole process began to feel real) when I first posted about going gray. Suddenly, I had an influx of additional followers and an amazing extended support system. Occasionally, someone even lets me know that I’ve inspired them to go gray, and that’s the best feeling ever.

Of course, I’ve dealt with criticism on social media too, but I don’t take it to heart. I think there’s something about women being confident and bold and not wanting others’ approval that makes people uncomfortable. But I also think there’s a movement going on right now: Women are realizing that going gray doesn’t make you look older—getting older makes you look older. So they’re going for it, and they don’t care what other people think.

16 months into my hair transformation, I have no regrets.

I think I’ve got just one more cut to go until I’m fully transitioned, and I’m absolutely loving my look. It’s…